I was about to be super impressed, then I saw these are worldwide sales. Still really good numbers though.

Anewme…Again

It’s more then a good number, at the beginning of May Nintendo said that 6,17 millions WIIU was sold.
Mario Kart 8 most likely helped sell quite a few WIIU, but still that’s around 20% of all WIIU owner who bought that game.
Also usually Mario Kart games sell for a really long time, so that number will continue to increase.

ZEROthefirst

Out of 6.17 million Wii U’s sold worldwide and 1.2 million copies of MK8 selling in the first 2 days, I’d say that’s impressive. Not every game can mindlessly sell like CoD, especially on a small install base.

Edit: Also have to factor in that MK8 came out the same weekend as Watch Dogs, a new IP that had more advertising and hype built up around it than how good it actually is (not saying it’s a bad game, just that it doesn’t live up to it’s hype very well) and Nintendo’s poor advertising.

otakumike

You nailed Cod and a new IP with one post. Efficient.

Jorge

Wow I didn’t realize the Wii version is the best selling Mario Kart game

Raziel Kõbe

Like wii sports, people buy Wii and this game came together.

idrawrobots

Really it’s because it never stopped selling. I’m sure it still does well to this day.

Yan Zhao

Cause everyone had a Wii lol. One of the most affordable consoles in the previous gen that targets a broader age demographic to boot.

Tatsuya1221

It was bundled with the wii at one point, which probably effected the numbers, still a good sales number though.

Raziel Kõbe

Yes!! Every people I know bought Wii and Wii Sports, or Wii Sports Resort or Mario Kart Wii came together. I bought Wii and I win a Mario kart Wii lol kkk Thats one big reason the Wii Sports be the all-time best selling game, like Tetris and Pókemon Red/Green/Blue with Game Boy.

Frankie

This is great news for Nintendo.

Suicunesol

Those numbers aren’t that great when you consider they’re worldwide.

Mario Kart is a slow burner, though. Initial sales shouldn’t matter much in the long run.

Same; I’m really interested in seeing if this has a significant impact on the install base.

Postnjam

It’s exam season, no gamer is going to (hopefully) waste time playing video games when they have exams, Games not selling well during May is normal.

Slayven19

But this released at the end of may and the majority of college students(and high school) are out of school already. Unless they have summer school or make up days.

Postnjam

I though exam season went on though May-June.

darke

Last I’d heard Nintendo said the average age of a Wii gamer was 29, that’s usually a little late for university or high school anyway.

No idea if it’s changed for the Wii U, but given that the only thing that seems to sell well on the system is nostalgia titles I’m going to bet it’s just going to keep creeping higher…

J_Joestar

aren’t averages a tricky thing though?
a lot of older people had Wiis as well so that could have significantly pulled up the average.

darke

But a lot of parents buy it for their family, which also includes kids young enough not to really play it as well, which pulls the demographics age lower too.

Anyway, this was *Nintendo* releasing their stats, not a random hackjob somewhere else. If Nintendo didn’t correct for outliers like the “too young” and “too old” in generating statics for sales and marketing purposes then they deserve to be ground into the dust of failure in the current gen for baseing their new console around garbage stats.

malek86

Look at those Mario Kart Wii sales. Look at them. That game alone outsold the freaking Nintendo 64.

Guest

Really good! I’m saving up money for a copy too, the game seems like a lots of fun, I’ve only seen cool things about it so I can’t wait to try it, the hype is real :p

xe7en

Those are goo… *looks at wii sales* … Holy shit, it sold that much?

Yan Zhao

You forgot that the Wii was probably one of the highest selling consoles worldwide lol. It attracted non-gamers and casual families.

wez

they sold in a bundle with system for a while

awang0718

Mario Kart Wii sales were the exception. Don’t expect anyfuture Mario Kart game to approach 35 million copies sold ever agian, unless that game is bundled with every console/handheld sold.

Yan Zhao

THese are the kind of games you need to release to sell your consoles Nintendo. Hope your lesson is learned, dont release a new console without proper 1st party games. Wii had Zelda Twilight Princess, GC had Luigi’s mansion. Wii U had….nothing?

Attribule

I’m almost 100% sure Twilight Princess nor Luigi’s Mansion were “big” titles on their respective systems. In fact, I would say I’m positive Luigi’s Mansion was not a “proper” 1st party title. Also, Twilight Princess was on GC as well.

It’s not whether or not Nintendo has a 1st party title at launch; it’s whether Nintendo has a game people WANT at launch. Mario Kart or Smash Bros. make excellent launch titles as they have a proven, strong audience. A 1st party platformer as a launch title won’t attract nearly as many people, for example.

Despite what some people believe, a lot of Nintendo IPs or series don’t have quite the following they used to, so just being “1st party” is not good enough.

Yan Zhao

The point being, both Wii and GC had decent/unique games which gave people incentive to buy the console at launch. Wii U had nothing but ports. Oh and Zombie U, a fairly mediocre and average zombie game. If Twilight Princess didnt come out at launch I’m almost posivite a significantly less number of Wii’s would’ve sold in its first month, despite being available on the GC.

awang0718

Pretty sure the Wii would have still sold the exact same, based on the IMMENSE popularity of Wii Soprts back then.

Yan Zhao

Towards the casual/non-gamers yes. But actual Nintendo gamers would’ve passed it if it didnt have Zelda.

awang0718

Pretyy sure actual Nintendo gamers were also very interested into Wii Sports as well.
I’m not saying that Twilight Princess didn’t help Wii sales, becasue it probably did. I am trying to say that the Wii would have still become a massive success anyways, even without Zelda at launch.

idrawrobots

Yeah I thought Super Mario 3D World was going to help the Wii U sell well last winter. I was wrong, I started questioning if any game could help sell they Wii U.

KingGunblader

Looks like 8 will be following in the footsteps of its very successful predecessors. Wii U’s everywhere turned on at once this weekend.

It’ll be interesting to see how Super Smash Bros. compares.

James Enk

gg MK & Nintendo, hope MK8 boost the WiiU sales as well

하세요

Won’t lie – watching this game and all the buzz around friends…I’m totally getting a Wii-U soon.

PreyMantis

If you ever do get a Wii U with MK8, keep in mind that you also get a free game by registering MK8 on Club Nintendo. The promotion only runs until July 31st, so make sure you register it before that if you ever get the system and game.

TrueDefault

You’re not the only one. I just bought one for MK8 because of the buzz…

0nsen

Yeah, I was thinking the same. But then I remembered why I didn’t want to bother with the Wii U in the first place. Unless Nintendo convinces me that I absolutely need the tablet and that it’s amazing, I won’t get a Wii U. (Which shouldn’t be so hard since I already think it’s pretty cool, they just do not live up to expectations with their games.)

ShawnOtakuSomething

Mario Kart Wii

Wii

35.53 million

Good lord

デ オオカミ

The only thing that sucks about all this is that I have my finals right now and can’t jeopardize graduating getting hooked on this just yet. Those MK Wii sales are incredible by the way.

Freud_Hater

WHAT A TWIST!

Keko

I’m pretty damn impressed, honestly. As someone who has played the SNES, 64, Gamecube and Wii versions, I don’t get the hype for MK8. I don’t get it at all.

leingod

You had fun with any of those? Well, this is fun too. And way better in some aspects.

Keko

I did have fun. Did I have so much fun that I’d buy a new console just to play the new version? No, I wouldn’t, but I’m seeing tons of people who are doing it.

Then again, I’m not really into racing games. I don’t get Gran Turismo either.

leingod

Well, I get you… but for those tons of people apparently it’s a good enough reason. Besides, it’s not like it’s the only game on the Wii U… I bet most of these people were on the fence, and MK8 just tipped them over.

Hound

I skipped Wii and was quite jealous of people’s MK buys. WiiU being more standard-controller-y and releasing an HD Kart caught my interest.

Now I can backlog Wii titles that people are shoveling out their doors. fun fun

leingod

Not to mention you get a free digital game when you register Mario Kart 8! Kinda forgot about that.

This is great news! That’s on par with entire sales of games like 3D World and Wind Waker HD.

Christopher C

Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii? Best Mario Kart games of the past

leingod

Awesome, hope the numbers keep piling up. The Wii U needs that.

Ms_Fortune

Double Dash is the 2nd worst selling MK?

There is no justice in this world.

Brandonmkii

To be fair, to match Wii numbers, every gamecube owner would need like, 3 copies or something.

French

If they were like Square Enix they’d still consider this poor :S

하세요

Well you have to consider Square games are generally on higher selling systems. If this were Mario Kart 7 sales and the 3DS has sales like it does now, this would be pretty bad.

This only looks godly because Wii-U sales aren’t that great. It’s a great step though.

Kornelious

Huh, I thought that this might help Nintendo get back on top again, but jeez I didn’t expect it to do that well! O_O

Jirin

7.23 billion / 35.53 million ~ 203.5

I don’t know how to process this.

Skye Johnson

35 million.

Geeeez. That’s ridiculous, and impressive.

Raltrios

Wow, I’d have thought Double Dash would have done better. I love that game.

MrJechgo

35 millions for MK Wii? Wow, I’m impressed O_O
The good news is that this game (MK Wii) can run on your Wii U, the bad news is that there’s no online play for it anymore.

pokeroi

Worth it

keithmaxx

Now to see how many copies they’ll manage to sell this year alone…

Göran Isacson

Holy hell those DS and Wii numbers. We’re never gonna get back there, let’s be real, but I do wonder if this game will ever make it even to Mario Kart 7’s level of sales. WIll there be enough interest in the game to move that many Wii U’s and games? T’will be interesting to see if now is when the Wii U receives it’s first real boost, and if maybe a bunch of other Wii U games can retroactively start selling again.

Ronldbx6

The Wii U started out rough but I’m starting to see that they finally have some awesome games coming out for the system. Keep up the good work!

Sion Cruz

For those curious about the Watchdog sales for comparison.

“Watch Dogs sold-through more than four million copies in its first week of sales, Ubisoft announced.

The open-world hacking game set a record as the the best-selling new IP at launch across the video game industry, Ubisoft said”.